Nobelling the Continent
Undoing the institutional messes
A couple of weeks ago, the Nobel Prize ceremony was held in Oslo and several revered prizes were awarded. The Nobel Prize, a vision hatched out by Alfred Nobel and shelved out of his last will he had earmarked to reward "those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.” And since 1901, Nobel Prizes have been issued 627 times to 1012 laureates; 66, out of this, are women, with the youngest and oldest laureates being 17 and 97 years old respectively.
One oustanding exception about laureates is they brace their loneliest rooms to connect unrelated dots and get down to the magic oomph of solving some of the humanity's baffling problems. At times, they appear, in retrospection, as outcasts from the social lens but history unforgettably, and rewardingly, proves them right.
Among the laureates who I honor the most is Kim Dae Jung, (with the acknowledgement of many who have trailblazed before and after) a 2010 Nobel laureate honoured for brokering an inter-Korean reconciliation stalemate. Five times he did brush with near dead-end experiences under the hands of the dictator, plus a six-year incarceration torture, a forty year house arrest. Kim narrated how he was kidnapped, tied up, blindfolded, mouth-stuffed.
But more worrying was his sentencing to death; and with all the familiar jitters, he waited for the execution day. And fortunate enough, God saved him as he revealed later and left us with a timeless observation that; "he who wins by injustice may dominate the present day, but history will always judge him to be a shameful loser. There can be no exception.”
And in this year, triplets of laureates hit my heart strings. Daron, Johnson and Robinson, the 2024 laureates in Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences accounted for “country differences in prosperity. They explain why some societies become stuck in a trap with what the laureates call extractive institutions, and why escaping from this trap is so difficult.” They substantiated their research with a tale of two cities with the same name.
Nogales is fenced into half; the North stretches out to Arizona. The South pops up from Mexico. The Northern residents are comparatively well off, have higher longevity, most children graduate with high school diplomas. Property rights are well ring-fenced, and the northerners know they reap from their hard work.
The South, contrastingly, though wealther by the Mexican standards are poorer by the Northern Nogales standards. Confined to suffocating political and economic systems, the southerners have no breathing room from organised crimes, corrupt politicians, riskier investment environment,
Both Nogales surprisingly has the same geography, same history, same culture, same food, same music but different prosperity. The difference in prosperity does not lie in geography or culture. Rather, it's the institutions-both political and economical. Those living in the northern fence fall under the US economic system, implying they've abundant opportunities to pursue their aspirations. They as well happen to exercise their political freedom; free to critique, free to elect and free to be elected fairly. The Southerners are not as fortunate as the northerners; they don't enjoy these privileges; limited political and economically is all they know.
The southern Nogales is a replica of most, if not all, African states. Freed from the colonial systems but tied to the newer neocolonial systems. Political systems are caught in the past; the old stalwarts of allegiance and control still call the shots. Parties don't sit on unshakeable foundational principles but rather they are crafted as more of political vehicles rather than an actual party to propel candidates to electoral victory. With a solid rudimentary tribal base, parties decampaign opponents and massage the ego of the power-wielding community with more favours.
The implications of this exlusive ethnic hegemony and short-termism are aready evident; the then Kenya administration under Kenyatta between 2013 and 2022 presided over a debilitating economy (political subsidies, tax expenditures foreign borrowing, etc). As long as their cronies were in power, the usual old playbook of tribal politics played out. To quote Ken Opalo, "How did Kenyatta get away with all of this (a failing economy)? On the electoral front, negative political ethnicity helped. As long as ethnicity was the dominant organizing principle in politics he could herd voters into ethnic pens, find non co-ethnic scapegoats, and get away with ruinous economic mismanagement."
The spillovers of the out-of-touch political systems are not far from over; already some have found their way into the judicial workings. Justice until recently was a preserve for the rich. For the poor, and without recourse, they had to turn the other cheek till they die. The politically connected doesn't pay to win cases; they pay to frustrate the litigation process.
When political and economic infrastructure-the threads that weave national identity- are eroded, we lose the culture. The culture of honor, respect for the right to life, tolerance, hospitality, honesty, hard work, empathy, generosity, and more. What's taking hold on our culture is exactly the opposite of what we vowed never to do in oath.
However, the laureates expressed optimism that countries that had lost their way have a chance to redeem themselves. To broaden political and economic rights; and institute reforms in finance, corporate, public, and private sectors. But, all these are possible only, and only if, the very institutions are not defiled. India, as per the laureates, was richer than US before the Industrial Revolution but because its institutions were extractive, they (local population) didn't reap much from the widespread innovation that swept across the world.
While the continent's custodians know they have legitimacy deficit at a time when they have very little to show, it has a borrowed time to clean their slates and reestablish people's rooted institutions. The current conventional problem that they face is the breach of trust. To be precise, they promise this, and do the opposite.
Going forward, what the custodians need to do is value the culture-what binds the country together-and embed into the institutions. The soul of what constitutes an institution is not merely a booklet of laws and rules. It's what unites communities—politically and economically—that's far more important than what makes them different.
I read Why Nations Fail. While the idea of institutions; extractive and inclusive, if gotten right was framed as one of the ways countries can prosper, the authors don’t do justice in contextualizing how some of the problems Africa are of colonial inheritance.
They fail, in my view, to also account clearly for the rise of China as a global power.
Not to say they’re not deserving of the Nobel Prize, but to note that, what we consume as Africans, as stories about Africa and prescriptions for Africa, must be taken with a pinch of salt.
And, as Chimamanda Ngozid would say, there’s a danger in a single story
Superlative post Edwin. European Colonialism did nothing positive for Africa or Africans. They made little attempt to truly educate the people under their control. Oh, they enforced their religion and religious beliefs on their captured people, at the same time they treated Africans as though you were somehow lesser creatures than they. This despite the fact that all humans on Planet Earth are exactly the same animal, having the same origin (primarily Africa - although there is some possibility of origin in Asia too). In short there's not a dimes worth of difference between you and me, except age and gender.
The major problem you face today in Africa i educating each and every child to the best of that child's ability and interest. In America that means computer program crafted to each child's needs. I'm not sure if that is possible in Africa now. Every child needs to feel successful, capable, and ready to support themselves regardless of gender or tribal affiliation. The rest of the world, but especially Europe and the United States owe you for the harm and damage we did in the past,
We could redeem some of that debt by building a viable usable transportation system throughout Africa, connecting all Africans with each other. Then building hospitals, schools, and helping to form a civil service to help all, from business startups to the truly needy.
Then people like you, need to train other people like you, to be leaders who favor "other people" over themselves. In time these leaders will take over from your currently self centered corrupt leaders.
This is an enormous job and unfortunately may take several years, which the rapidly heating climate will be a hindrance. I wish you the bright future you deserve Edwin. Keep believing in yourself, and find others to assist you. Because you seek only good, you will win.